By Mike Johnson
I stood at the base of the building and touched the glass.
It was 1972. The 775-foot IDS Tower had just been completed in downtown Minneapolis.
As I looked straight up, I could not count the 57 floors, identify the observation deck, or see the communication towers on the roof.
On that day, the enormous building was the tallest in Minnesota and the 16th tallest in the world.
But I couldn’t take it all in.
I was too close.
The same was true of downtown Minneapolis.
I'd been downtown many times but never fully saw it all until I stood in the observation deck of that IDS Tower.
With great height, came great perspective.
I finally saw Minneapolis in its entirety, immediately understanding how streets and buildings and lakes and favorite haunts all connected to the whole.
I'd been living there for years but never grasped the big picture.
This is your life.
You can’t see its enormity when you’re in the middle of living it.
You’re too close.
You’ll only grasp the big picture after you gain a much higher perspective.
On his last day of work, after a 30-year career as a music teacher, Mr. Holland thought he’d misused his life.
Due to budget cuts, the school had cancelled the music program, retiring Mr. Holland with short notice.
He was dejected, depressed and defeated.
He was too close.
His wife and son arrived to sooth his departure.
While taking his last box of classroom belongings toward the exit, he heard a ruckus in the school auditorium.
What unfolded next is one of the best scenes in movie history.
Thanks to the love of friends and students, Mr. Holland was suddenly thrust into that higher perspective.
Now he saw how enormous his life had actually been.
He suddenly understood how thousands of individual interactions all fit together, to make the beautiful symphony of his life.
Few of us will be fortunate enough to experience a Hollywood-written life review right here on earth.
But it's coming.
It's coming to a theater near you, on a plane of existence so high, that like that IDS Tower, you can't even see the top.
You'll be amazed at all the positive ripples you launched.
How many people were impacted.
How it changed their lives.
How those changes impacted other lives.
How all of that, fit perfectly, divinely together, into a beautiful mosaic, thanks to YOU.
But until then, you'll only see, just a smidgen.
You're too close.
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More:
Scene from "Mr Holland's Opus" with student Gertrude Lang
Movie's climatic scene in auditorium
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